


In The Dark

by im_the_king_of_the_ocean



Category: RWBY
Genre: Eye Trauma, F/F, Major Character Injury, Permanent Injury, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 09:14:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26969572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/im_the_king_of_the_ocean
Summary: Penny helps Ruby adjust to life after she loses her sight.
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	In The Dark

“Again!”

“Ruby, no.”Penny’s voice is soft, pleading in the worst possible way.

“I’m fine.I can keep going,” Ruby turns in the direction she’s fairly certain she heard Penny speak from.She hates this.She hates this so much.She grits her teeth.“Come on, or are you afraid I’ll kick your butt?”

“Ruby, _please_.” 

Penny places her hand on Ruby’s shoulder.Ruby jumps with a yelp.She hadn’t heard Penny’s footsteps approach her.She hadn’t been focusing on listening for them. _Stupid,_ Ruby mentally berates herself. _So stupid._ She has to get better at depending on her hearing.It’s the only way she’ll be able to…Ruby’s breath catches in her throat.She hiccups.

Ruby feels Penny’s grasp on her firm up.First on the one shoulder she’s already holding.Then, tentatively, on the other.Penny tenderly runs her hands up to cup Ruby’s face, never breaking contact so Ruby can always sense where she is.“Your aura is low.You need rest,” Penny whispers, pressing her forehead against Ruby’s.“Please?For me?”

“But I…” Ruby doesn’t pull away from Penny.“I need to…”Get better.Be able to do everything just like she did before.Like it had never happened.Like she’d never been kidnapped and instead of _killing_ her Salem decided to…to…

Phantom pain blossoms in Ruby's mind, where her eyes had been.She winces.“I…”The sob rises in her throat.She feels her grasp on Penny tighten, the way the fabric of Penny’s blouse twists beneath her fingers.Ruby can imagine what the sight of it looks like.She just can’t _see_ it.Not anymore.

It’s a cruel joke, really.If Ruby died, Salem once explained in an altogether too calm voice, she’d become a matyr to her cause.Reason for her friends and allies to fight on.A noble sentiment, sure, but not something Salem particularly wants to indulge.So, instead, she would take their light, their smaller, more honest soul, cast her in eternal darkness, and return her to them without the power that could vanquish Grimm in an instant.See how long their resolution lasted after _that_.

Once the pain of the injury faded, Ruby was left with just the terror.Her brain _knew_ it was supposed to be seeing things.She’d always _seen_.Now she couldn’t.No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t break out of the darkness she’s trapped in.It scares her.It scares her so much.

Ruby tries to shove past it.To act everyday like nothing had happened.To train, like her fighting style won’t have to be altered now that she lost one of the senses she’d always depended on.

It never works.Not really.Her resolve always ends up breaking as the fear returns.That she’ll always be lost, always feel helpless, in the dark.Fumbling around, clueless on how to navigate the world she once delighted in exploring.

“Do you want to go find Maria?”Penny asks quietly, as she holds Ruby’s trembling form.Out of anyone, the older woman has the most knowledge, _understanding_ , of what Ruby’s going through, and has helped her process the trauma a lot already.

“No.”Ruby shakes her head.“Can we sit for a little while?Just the two of us?”

“Yes.”

They go to one of the study lounges in the dormitories.Ruby knows that’s where Penny has taken her when she feels the familiar cushions of one of the comfiest seats.The room is empty.Ruby has every confidence that Penny wouldn’t lead her to somewhere where there are people during a moment like this.

Ruby exhales as they sit.She rests her head on Penny’s shoulder, focuses on her breathing, and slowly and surely lets go of her fear.

Penny strokes Ruby’s hair, running her fingers through her locks gently.“Better?”

“Just a little,” Ruby admits.She hesitates, and then says, “Maybe later we can try Ada?”The Accessibility Dialogue Assistant is something Ruby, although not opposed to in principle, has stubbornly refused using.Continuing to pretend she doesn’t need it won’t change the fact she does, though.

“As long as you’re ready.”

Ruby doesn’t have to see to know Penny’s smiling at her.“Maybe I just want to get back to kicking your butt,” she mutters at her girlfriend.Ruby reaches out with one hand, knowing Penny knows what she’s asking even without words.She hears Penny remove her glove and then feels her place her hand in her own.

Ruby turns Penny’s hand over and over again with her own.With every pass, she once again memorizes the feel of her.The odd, not cool but not warm either, temperature of Penny’s skin.The mechanical strength she can sense beneath the surface.The bend of Penny’s joints, so normal yet so unique at the same time.

Creating a map made entirely of feeling, touch, and sound of Penny in her mind, Ruby brings her into the darkness with her.

There are some ways, she’ll never be able to escape her new reality, but Salem was wrong in thinking that creating it would snuff out the light within Ruby.She’ll have to adjust, and process, and deal with the wild assortment of emotions that occasionally threaten to engulf her as they come.No matter how much Ruby fears, though, she has equal confidence that she _will_ be able to do so.

Ruby tentatively pulls Penny closer to herself.She finds Penny’s lips and kisses her.Some things have drastically changed, yes, but others have not.Thankfully, love falls under the latter category.


End file.
